Pace Yourself
by ButterfliesforHeartbeats
Summary: Sam/Jess oneshot. Jess is a mother hen and can get pretty bad about it, but Sam really needs to start taking better care of himself.


It wasn't really until Jess moved in with her boyfriend that she found out about his most ridiculous, absent-minded bad habits. The problem with his bad habits, though, was that apart from each other the bad habits were actually good: he was a hard worker, he put his all into studying, he was goal oriented, he was determined, he worked out religiously (she definitely wasn't complaining about that one). When she first started dating him, all that stuff was fantastic. She thought she had finally found a guy with his head on his shoulders right.

Then, one morning she got out of bed and stubbed her toe on a stack of books. Sam apologized profusely, saying he'd been stretching a hamstring he pulled and had studied on the floor the day prior.

Then, she got up in the middle of the night to pee and found Sam at the kitchen table with his books out again. She couldn't remember him coming to bed at all that night.

Then, Sam picked up a second job on top of his other one and a full time class schedule.

Then, he started playing basketball with a group of guys who needed another player to scrimmage around.

She knew that keeping physically in shape was important to him. She didn't know why… But, she knew it was. She knew vaguely that his family had always had financial troubles, and that going to college and living on his own income was really important to him. She knew that he had moved around a lot as a kid so finding a community in which he could regularly be involved in things like sports was important.

And it wasn't like she resented him doing all this because he didn't have time for her anymore. As a matter of fact, he still spent plenty of time with her. He made time for her. He made time for everything, and that was the point. Sam Winchester needed to slow down, and Jess was determined to make him do so.

She found her opportunity to talk to him about it one evening after dinner (leftover pizza) in the apartment. Sam had cleared the table for her even though it was her night to do dishes, and then set himself up with all of his books to study. Jess eyed him sharply before taking the damp drying towel from over her shoulder, twisting it up and whipping it at him. She caught his butt and part of the chair, but it was enough to get his attention.

"Hay," She said.

"_You_ 'hay'? Why do _you_ get to 'hay'? _I_ should be 'hay'-ing right now: what was that for?"

"That was for studying a month before finals are even here." Jess answered, pointing accusingly at the books in front of him.

"I get whipped for preemptive homework?" Sam protested.

"Yes." She answered. "Listen, Sam, all jokes aside: you're going to crash one of these days. Didn't anyone ever teach you how to pace yourself?"

"Jess," Sam stood up. "What are you talking about?"

"You," She poked him in the chest, "Need to start taking better care of yourself." He looked confused and she was almost distracted by how cute his little forehead wrinkle was, but reminded herself to stay strong. "You hardly get more than 4 hours of sleep a night at best. You're working way too much for a guy with a full ride. Don't work and worry so much, ok, babe?"

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I could say the same thing about you," He answered. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he returned the favor.

"You," She repeated, sticking her finger out at him again, "Are going to slow down and take care of yourself so that I don't have to worry about you anymore. Better?" Sam grabbed her hand and pulled it back down to his side.

"Yes, ma'am." He swooped down to peck her on the lips.

"Hm," She answered, satisfied. "Now, you're going to put your books aways and go put a movie in. I want a full night's rest for you, and you're sleeping in tomorrow. Got it?"

"Aww," He whined, drooping his shoulders and bouncing a little with his knees bent. "Do I have to?"

"You must have been the weirdest child," Jess observed, moving back to the sink. Sneakily, she took her towel and snapped Sam in the butt again to get him moving.

"Hay!" He exclaimed, "You like doing that way too much for it to be healthy."

"I like you way too much for it to be healthy." Jess answered. They grinned at each other until Jess snapped her towel at Sam again, making him jump. "Now get in and start that movie!"


End file.
